It has been said that money is the root of all evil. But more correctly, perhaps, money is the fruit of all evil. Money is like an ointment: that placates, and yet worsens, a festering wound - upon society (and upon our species) which affects most people; that some (or many, or most) will not do their fair share, to benefit their society, or their neighbors, or themselves. This is selfishness, pure and simple - and money has appointed itself the cure. But money is a dictatorial physician (disguised as a stern parent). Money rewards only those who handle it expertly - and punishes those who prefer another lover.

It forces people to work to survive; trading the unfair market value of their labor, product or skill in order to provide for themselves the bare necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing, heat, security and medicine - and those considered fortunate may afford luxuries: such as comfort, education, recreation and opportunity. But how poor is a country, when such things are considered luxuries; and advancement is dependent on the accumulation of such luxuries, which is often dependent on the subjugation of one's neighbor?

Most CEOs would not be billionaires if their employees received fair wages. But then, most workers would be able to afford to send their children to college - and the next generation would be more educated, more independent and less inclined to work in a factory. Fewer peasants, less need for money.

In most early cultures, a currency is set in place, to substitute for barter: yet most remain impoverished, due to their skills' relative market inequality; which socially imprints as inadequacy, impotence, insolubility - projecting outwardly (and inwardly) as unimportant, unworthy, unsafe. And as one's personal value becomes thus aligned with that of their contribution, determining how much one benefits from civilization, and even just the necessities of life: eventually, later generations become even less able, comfortable, healthy, happy; an individual's status becoming more reflective of ancestry than their humanity, or even ability.

We are not the only species to enslave one another - nor are we unique in constructing a complex society. It seems an element of evolution that we should organize ourselves, and each other, in such a way that our species survives - or else it doesn't. And as our species acquires further sentience, our last great acts of predatory and self-predatory behavior become gradually more conscious, and are tapered thusly. If the most recent teach us conservation, perhaps the next great lesson will be diplomacy.

As we mature from a species that rends all others asunder and extinct, to true caretakers of this world, responsible to future generations, ever closer to that gentle wisdom and kindness, which most believe God to be; perhaps our greatest first responsibility and obstacle to overcome will be to those who are still superstitious, greedy or malicious - their ways are horribly wrong, and will lead only to the grave. Society must be protected from that if it is to survive.

Diligence is required. Awareness is essential. Wisdom is crucial. Do not be like the early Christians, who cried tears of joy while being devoured by Roman lions; or the Roman Catholic Church who burned Bruno at the stake and imprisoned Galileo - forcing him to publicly retract his scientific findings: the simple scandal that the Earth revolves around the Sun and Jupiter has moons. The telescope, a child's toy turned simple tool (once pointed upward), brought fear to the seats of power. They were loathe to amend their understanding of this world. They were afraid to change their understanding of God. They worried that their political power would diminish - and that the peasants would begin to think for themselves. They worried that the people would develop their own understanding of God - and see that it had nothing to do with mindless subservience to pompous authority. To them, nations were filled with slaves - and poverty was their favorite yoke.

Our emergence from the Dark Ages would have been shorter and far less bloody, were it not for such dictators, however well dressed or respected by the people. These self-appointed rulers, and their pawns, are remnants of our barbaric prehistory - when cavemen settled petty disputes with rocks and clubs; next came arrows and swords, then guns and bombs. Perhaps radiation, lasers and germ warfare will be among the final tools we use to finish each other off. Yet we are a peaceful people, generally; if we can just get over being so selfish - and gullible.

Today, even though we clearly have means to feed and house the impoverished of the world, the wealthy live in obscene comfort, compared to the soul-ripping poverty afflicting most. One particularly ridiculous assumption is that the poor deserve their fate, for being lazy. We claim to be enlightened, yet we are destroying ourselves and billions of innocents around the world: Pollution has altered the global climate - only the seriously misguided still dare argue against that. Sunblock, anyone?

We seem to have learned from many of our past mistakes. Through Renaissance and great Revolutions, we the people have (in theory) appointed ourselves - and become more free to develop great technological advances: in medicine, electricity and global communication - we have been to the moon and back. We should learn from our past success. For why else would God create such possibilities? Perhaps it is an opportunity for us to learn and grow - He wants us to not only survive, but expand in number and be responsible for and look after one another. And perhaps one day, far off into the future, dare to more fully understand the universe that He created. It is a long road: one that requires patience and understanding - understanding the difference between what is and what is not. But it requires an open mind, because most things have been right in front of us all along. Perhaps the first question we must ask ourselves is: How can curiosity offend God? We will already be seen by future generations as primitive - let us not also be considered fools.

Today, it is known that: Stem Cell Research can cure many diseases and make the paralyzed walk again. To prohibit this is a waste of this new knowledge that God has given us. But the very forces that fill coffers and campaign war-chests, that pray for and play on blind faith, and feed fears of a vengeful deity, have accumulated their vast wealth by selling, at inflated prices, obsolete medicine to the sick, which are increasing in number. They would go out of business if people were to wake up, if science were to progress - thus, there is blood on that money, and on the hands of all who support them. But greater still is the loss to our future generations, who may need that forbidden knowledge to be well established by then, in order to find the next salvation, over the next hill: to plant the next flag; heal the next wound. We must stand upon each other's shoulders, or we will eventually drown in our own blood, sweat and tears.

Over the last century, corporations have taken over the planet - and in the process, for the sake of profit, polluted the water, the land and the very air we breathe. Stealing an average day's wage from them will land you in jail, yet they boldly steal from everybody and continue unpunished. Everybody knows burning oil is bad - and most people have heard by now that, within our lifetimes, we will all but run out. Solar power, wind power and fuel cells are better - and cleaner - but they do not pay continual dividends to utility companies. Someone has yet to figure out how to charge money for fresh air and sunshine. Perhaps it will be easier when such commodities are in scarce supply.

It is said that God does not want us to be afraid - that He is a God of Love. It is said that God hates ignorance - but maybe God hates nothing; yet rewards the opposite of ignorance with continued survival. This phenomenon, scientists refer to as Natural Selection - but Creationists refuse to listen: they want to silence the wise. These people should not be in charge of anything; they are not even in charge of their own minds. This is not the way of God, but it is exactly how a devil would conquer a gullible people - by convincing them that there is no truth to behold; and that the studious, the conscientious, are insane.

There are still those who believe that the world is flat, and fossils were placed in the ground by God to test our faith in a cryptic scripture. But investigation of nature has revealed what killed the dinosaurs; and that one day, we will all surely share a similar fate, if we're still around - or we can embrace science for a solution. It was not the devil who showed us that, but people; who used the brains that God gave them. And if we are to continue at all, it will be down the path that God has laid out for us, and begged us at every turn to follow: wisdom.

Money, on the other hand - well, it's easy.

Good morning.
Choose your fate.

the conflict waged on for ages - n while the proponents of violence intimidated the lovers of sex, there eventually grew to be more of the latter (as those with violent tendancies tended to kill each other off more n reproduce less) - n both sides filled the media with images and stories furthering their own cause - however, this only seemed to expand the factions that were either into or opposed to both

and then one day, a cold wind blew - n all the people who were into sex stayed home n enjoyed each other, thoroughly, whilst the violent tribe voted themselves a new leader who vowed to destroy the other side - thus, the violent caste captured the hearts n minds of the religious; n hence, most of their political power, as well - although the world's religions were mostly about love, their imagery seemed more preoccupied with death, n shunned sex (as the early religious leaders did not want the pagan converts to overpopulate until they had been entirely converted, n their contries conquered) - but occasionally, some from deeply religious familes would migrate to the sexual society: first psychologically, then physically - however, this was considered blasphemy, n most of the particular behaviors involved had been outlawed for aeons (although in the light of a more modern reason, few could well define specific flaws associated with these behaviors, that most people could follow, much less agree on; or truly believed there was anything really wrong with them) - still, a significant number of the society's prisoners were convicted of love seeking crimes, yet were held in the same facilities as some of the more violent offenders: leaving them with the choice of either converting to violence, or becoming its victim

in the last days, some on the sex side had been converted from the violent side, but were too rough around the edges to advance very high in sexual society (or become readily accepted); n too torn or internally devoted to feelings of false honor n loyalty to organize n effectively defend the sexuals against the violents, their former faction - so most went into hiding, or fell back into convenient casual disguise, effectively hiding the numbers of the sex party - yay, tho this effect was only temporary, as they were too afraid to speak their minds to the revisited violent elders among them; and their offspring were converted back into violence, n all among them began to fear the sex party for the spread of disease; as well as the loss of their immortal soul thru eternal damnation, as religion made the elders seem wise - thus the parents of the new generation fell back into the old habits of their youth (being well established in their psyche), n generally saw nothing wrong with attending traditional bloodthirsty gatherings: such as sporting events, where many of the participants often died, often enough at the hands of their opponents (which many on the sex side proclaimed was the only reason anyone ever went to these gatherings in the first place)

meanwhile, many of the so-called sex scene grew weary, n bored with each other; n sought out new n more interesting ways to spend their days, most of them naked - the most popular direction was to inflict pain unto each other: whether it be slight hints of suffering, with hot candle wax; or full-on sado-massochism with whips n chains n leather bondage n body piercing - thus, a third sector emerged, which was heavily into both sex and violence - n then a fourth, which proclaimed total abstinence was the only civilized behavior - this only proliferated the laws against specific practices of each faction; n both the sex and violence sides began to feel outnumbered, n their influence waned: with the only total abstainers having any moral immunity in the light of new propaganda; leaving only the mutual practitioners with any real freedom (which, as it turned out, was the last group of people you wanted running amok)

as time passed, children of disfunctional families often rebelled and migrated to opposing factions; adopting their music, mannerisms n mode of dress, in an attempt to become closer to their parents: which confused everybody, much to the glee of the alien overlords, who had been taking more of a "divide and conquer" approach for some time, since the indigenous population had begun to vastly outnumber theirs, n it was clear that the species in question had yet to settle on one or the other extreme

at a certain point of critical mass, an equation was calculated n a decision was made - the aliens abandoned their experiment, removed their equipment n fled their outposts - then the asteroid hit, wiping out all civilization, thrusting humanity back into the stone age; their collective survival depending on each individual's proficiency in both survival skills - thank god we got it right this time, eh?